Author: admin

blog / Nashville / Our Man In Nashville / sadness / summer / travel / wilco

June 23, 2020

THROUGH SPACE, TIME, AND MIDDLE AMERICA PART TWO: POLISH FORTUNE TELLERS, DENNY’S, AND SOLITUDE

As I roll through another international neighborhood, I begin to notice the locals are mostly in Cubs gear, and all walking towards the same thing. Turns out I’m driving towards it—Irving Park intersects with West Addison, as in 1060 West Addison, AKA Wrigley Field, AKA the official address of one Elwood Blues. I can’t believe my luck—I wanted to experience this town, and this one road appears to be giving me Peak Chicago.

blog / COVID-19 / memory / Nashville / Our Man In Nashville

April 29, 2020

History in the Soup Aisle

by Jason T. Sparks, Our Man in Nashville Nashville, Tennessee, March 26, 2020 Staff Sgt Edgar T Sparks, Jr, my grandfather, late of the US Army Air Corps and the China-Burma-India theatre of combat...

Before Coronavirus / blog / city / Guest Post / Nashville / Our Man In Nashville / travel / wilco

April 15, 2020

Through Space, Time and Middle America, Part One: Wind Turbines, Cheese Fries, Intermodal Stations, and Bottlezahwatahzahdollah (A trip before the Coronavirus.)

by Jason T. Sparks, Our Man in Nashville I look back now on May of 2018 as a kind of—pardon the bastardized Latin—month mirablius. I had started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for...

blog / Essay and Opinion / music / Positivus / travel

July 27, 2017

Eating gluten free avocado toast in a former Soviet state

Dallas Morning News July 27, 2017 Hanging out at a music festival on the edge of the former Soviet Union, I saw a dude in a Donald Trump costume grooving down to a set...

blog / director / Essay and Opinion / fantasticfest / festival / film / movie

May 4, 2017

The U.S. cannot be like the movie monster that destroys Seoul

Dallas Morning News May 4, 2017 Ever since I saw the movie Colossal at Fantastic Fest this past fall, I’ve been waiting for it to come out in theaters. I wanted to write about its perceptive...

Austin / blog / Essay and Opinion / events / festival / sxsw / tech / Texas

March 16, 2017

Why can’t SXSW get beyond bro-culture?

Dallas Morning News March 16.2017 As fashion shows in Paris bring us next season’s trends in wearables, the South by Southwest conference has built the reputation for unveiling future ideas. Unsigned bands play in...

Essay and Opinion / events / history / politics / travel / winter

January 23, 2017

Why I broke my commitment to personal laziness to attend the Women’s March

Last November I had no idea that the presidential election would lead me to a packed Washington D.C. metro car full of pink-hatted people speeding towards the Women’s March on Washington, singing me a spirited...

Austin / Austin Film Festival / Essay and Opinion / film / history / movie / Texas

December 1, 2016

Film fails to show the warmth of Jackie Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library was free for everyone. My big family was often looking for something to do on their...

Austin / Austin City Limits Music Festival / blog / festival / music / park / Texas

October 6, 2016

ACL Fest sells a watered-down version of the Texas mythos

ACL Fest sells a watered-down versionTwo years ago I flew out of Austin just after the Austin City Limits Music Festival and noticed everyone in my row was sporting an ACL wristband. It wasn’t...

blog / Latvia / music / politics / Positivus / travel

August 8, 2016

Trump plan to weaken NATO obligations is unfair to the Baltic countries that had our back

In July I headed to the Positivus music festival in Salacgriva, Latvia. It’s on the border with Estonia and not far — as the tanks roll –from Russia. This was the 10th year of Positivus, and...